As computer systems and scanning systems have become capable of acquiring and displaying results with ever-increasing resolution, it has become possible to render images of scanned data with increasing accuracy and realism. In addition, scanning and rendering three-dimensional data is now commonplace. One application of these systems has been in the area of medical imaging, and more particularly, in the area of dental imaging. In these systems, scanned data is used to render three-dimensional images obtained by scanners such as CT (Computer Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and other forms of scanned data. Typically, the scanned data is transformed into a network of polygons that represent the surfaces that were scanned. These polygons are then rendered using three-dimensional computer graphics software and hardware.
While such systems have been successful in capturing and rendering dental related data, several problems remain with these systems. First, there has to date been no way to accurately and independently represent the motion of the lower jaw in relation to the upper jaw using clinical records. The motion of the lower jaw in relation to the upper jaw is complex. For example, the lower jaw is capable of opening, closing, and moving in both a lateral (i.e. side to side) and protrusive (i.e. front to back) manner. To date, no system has been capable of accurately modeling this complex motion.
As a result, there is a need in the art for a system that can provide accurate rendered images of a dental patient based on clinical records. In addition, there is a need in the art for such a system that can accurately model the movement of the jaw of a particular patient.